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28 Mar 2013

Meeting my MP

In July 2012 I went to see my MP, Dr Julian Huppert (LibDem), about the levels of Private Debt in the UK. I showed him the chart from the 2011 Budget Report which showed that private debt was about 480% of GDP.

Afterwards he wrote to me

Thank you for coming to see me at the Guildhall to discuss the concerns you have about private sector debt.

As discussed, I have now written to the Chancellor to ask for his comments on the issues you have raised. Please find attached a copy of this letter and I will write to you again as soon as I have received a response.

I hope that this will be helpful and once again, thanks for bringing your concerns to my attention.

What he wrote to George Osborne was this (extract):

I would be grateful to know your thoughts on how levels of private debt can be brought down in the UK and the effect you anticipate that this may have on our economy. Additionally, I would be interested to know what the UK has been doing to encourage other EU countries to work to reduce the amount of private debt they have and what effect you believe this will have on the stability of the Eurozone.

My constituent does not think that the Government is paying due attention to our levels of private debt and it would be helpful if you had any comments which I could pass on to him.

Eight months later I've not had any response and attempts to nudge Dr Huppert on Twitter and by email have not produced any responses. I sent an email on 5th December reminding Dr Huppert that went unacknowledged. I can only presume that this issue is of no interest to George Osborne and that Dr Huppert has given up expecting a reply from the Chancellor - not even a form letter apparently, not even an acknowledgement.

I'm putting this online in the hope that it might facilitate an answer. I noted earlier this month that the updated chart shows that private sector deleveraging stalled in 2012. The level of debt has been stuck at 440% of GDP for more than a year. I don't think it's too much to ask how the government about these figures.

This Blog is about other ways of looking at the Global Financial Collapse, now also being called the Second Great Depression, mainly focused on the UK. It is by and for non-economists, but informed by the work of economists who saw the danger and were ignored.

Something is seriously wrong in the state of economics and politics. They've driven us into a ditch and won't let go of the steering wheel. Things are much worse now than in the First Great Depression. We need some new ideas, and preferably from people who understand the real economy.

If nothing changes we face a generation of Economic Depression.

Business policy has become political policy; and business values have become social values. We need to reverse this!